


Comfortable

by GalacticGoldfish



Category: Death Stranding (Video Games)
Genre: Boys In Love, Dinner, Dinner Date, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Dorks in Love, Established Relationship, M/M, they're both a couple of softies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-15
Updated: 2019-11-15
Packaged: 2021-01-31 07:06:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21442189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalacticGoldfish/pseuds/GalacticGoldfish
Summary: Sam & Deadman have their own version of intimacy.
Relationships: Sam Porter Bridges/Deadman
Comments: 14
Kudos: 209





	Comfortable

There they were, holed up in Deadman’s lab like a couple of rats. Though that wasn’t exactly the air between them. And Sam didn’t really have anything against rats either. Papers shoved to the side of the desk so that both of them could find space at it to place their food down. The hum of machinery droned on in the background as Sam picked at his salad. 

Deadman was droning on as well. Something about science. Something about society. He couldn’t keep up with it all really. This was their form of intimacy. It wasn’t touches on the hand or gentle kisses on the cheek between the two of them. It wasn’t passionate kisses or tight embraces. It was when Sam came home from delivering and the two of them shared a meal. 

It was weird for him to consider this place home. Before he had always thought of the world of inside and outside, outside being where he felt like he belonged. Inside was where all of the people that were too much trouble to deal with stayed. The invisible barriers between meant to keep him and them separated for his own sake. 

But here he was with a slightly disheveled man who didn’t care that he couldn’t embrace him like someone normally would. The marks on his skin and the panic that would set in would be too much for him to handle. Deadman respected him enough to know that pushing it wouldn’t help either of them. So they had found different ways to move forward in their relationship. 

Ever since the… incident, they had showered together again. More than once. But it had always been a strange affair of trying to avoid touching one another. It had almost made him feel bad that Deadman had to go out of his way not to touch him but nonetheless he insisted that they did. The talks they had in the shower weren’t about science, they weren’t about deliveries. Sometimes they were about nothing at all. 

It never seemed to matter what they spoke about since Sam wasn’t much of a talker anyways. He hadn’t really ever been much of a listener either until he started to care what Deadman had to say. Well, he liked the background noise of him talking at least. It was strange to gradually go from thinking that human beings speaking was the most annoying sound on earth. Before it used to make him want to run away into the wilderness, preferring the sound of BTs screaming in his ear.

But now the sound of when Deadman spoke relaxed him for the most part. Even if he didn’t understand all of what the scientist was saying… Sam’s eyes watched him as he spoke. The way his face lit up when he was detailing something specific that he had discovered. The way his eyes crinkled a little bit whenever he smiled. All things that he never thought he would have noticed about someone again. It made him soft. 

As someone who had been rejecting the need to reconnect with humanity it was strange to find that Sam was the one who found himself connecting at all. 

**“Can I have your tomatoes?”**

**“Of course dear go ahead.”**

Sam interrupted whatever science thing Deadman was going on about to ask about the tiny red fruits… Vegetables? Foods. He didn’t know what the hell they were really. Normally he wouldn’t have eaten them before this either but Deadman had gone on and on about his nutrition being poor. Something about burning more calories than gaining whenever he walked around with cargo on his bag without taking the bike. 

But even with him interrupting Deadman wasn’t phased. Instead he just answered and gently pushed the plate forward so that Sam could take whatever he wanted of it. Though he knew that he only wanted the tomatoes and that was fine really. The leafy greens that went with the salad were much harder to get the porter to eat so as long as he was eating something Deadman could be happy about it.

Next perhaps he would try to get him to eat cucumbers. And of course he knew that Sam wasn’t really absorbing anything of what he was saying. Which worked fine by him. The act of just talking things out helped with his research immensely. Especially since Sam never remembered any of it. He could have the same science based conversation with him three dinners in a row and he knew Sam would never just get tired of hearing him talk. 

When it counted Sam remembered all sorts of things. He remembered the things that were important to him. Like what time Deadman closed down his lab for the night, if he ever did for the day that was. He remembered when Deadman’s birthday was, even if it had only been mentioned in passing due to a conversation about DOOM counts. Sam remembered that one of his favorite foods were radishes but they were hard to grow near the central city. Meaning he kept an eye out for them at traders from different parts of the circuit when he traveled. 

Sam realized the word that he had been looking for when describing how he felt with Deadman was one he wasn’t used to using. It was, comfortable. Things were easy with him. They fit together well. They felt right. Popping one of the tomatoes into his mouth he watched as Deadman continued to talk even more animatedly with his hands at this point. Apparently extremely worked up about something or rather very excited.

**“Can you repeat that? I didn’t understand it that time.”**

The words coming out of Sam’s mouth confused the both of them. In all the time they had been having these dinners he hadn’t bothered to ask Deadman to clarify anything ever. 

**“I… Of course I can!”**

Sam smiled as Deadman began to slow down, pulling one of the papers they had shoved aside closer so that Sam could see it. It was some sort of diagram to help explain what he had been talking about. Maybe listening to science wasn’t so bad after all.


End file.
